Melody Gibson R3/12

Melody Gibson R3/12

melodyrabbit
Melody Gibson, with us from 2012 until 2017.

 

Melody was a big speckled butterfly lop doe. She came to us after her owner sadly died in 2012, having previously taken one of our buck’s Khargosh home with her she was returned with him. She was born in approx 2006. She was a much loved house rabbit in her previous life but really seemed to love being outside too. She was really happy here and was good and active. But it doesn’t stop her from biting the hand that fed her, at least not when that hand was cleaning her hutch. She was fiercely territorial and gave me the worst bite I ever got on my wrist and did some nerve damage which took six months to go away!! She took a dislike to me (doorkeeper) when she arrived as she had an extremely mucky bottom which it took me hours to get clean. She obviously really didn’t appreciate the intimate attention. I never had to do it again but she didn’t forgive me for years. She was fine with everyone else, even allowing them to stroke her, but would lunge at me with her mouth open and really sink her teeth in if I didn’t move fast enough. But she did forgive me in the end. To my surprise after she  lost her longterm partner Khargosh and I was able to bond her with two other bucks, Yarra and Murray she totally changed her opinion of me and never once showed any aggression again. I think the two weeks she spent alone made her really lonely, and appreciative of them and of me for giving them to her. It is remarkable how strong and particular a rabbit ‘s feeling can be.

Melody outlived both her beloved boys and was then bonded with Eric and they lived out the end of their lives together, both being pts at the end of 2017 when she was around twelve years old and had lost the last of her mobility. I was actually relieved that they both reached that stage at the same time as neither of them were strong enough to cope with another bonding but would have been lost on their own. They both had to contend with worsening ear abscesses, the scourge of lops, which finally gave each of them a degree of head tilt which aggravated their frailty due to their ages and greatly reduced their quality of life.